History
Background
At the end of the Battle of Passchendaele, having expanded the Ypres Salient by retaking Passendale Ridge, the British were left with little natural shelter from the former woods and farms. The artillery of both sides had flattened the landscape. [3] As the static nature of the conflict gave way to a more mobile war, and the opposing sides developed better technology and tactics, particularly in artillery, the need arose to protect troops within deeper and deeper shelters close to the frontline. What started out as simple blast shelters turned over time into subterranean hospitals, mess rooms, chapels, kitchens, workshops, blacksmiths, as well as bedrooms where exhausted soldiers could rest. [4]
Needing shelter for their troops on Passendale Ridge, the Allied High Command in January 1918 moved 25,000 specialist tunnellers of the Royal Engineers and 50,000 attached infantry to the north-east of Ypres. Most of the men involved had prepared and taken part in the Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917), where they had dug 26 deep mines as well as nearly 200 individual shelter structures at depths of 30 metres (98 ft) into the local blue clay. These underground barracks built by the Royal Engineers could accommodate units from 50 men up to 2,000 as in the largest dugouts at Wieltje and Hill 63. [3] Connected by corridors measuring 6 ft 6 in (2.0 m) high by 4 ft (1.2 m) wide, the deep dugouts were fitted with water pumps [4] to deal with the high groundwater tables in the area. The level of these World War I underground activities can be gauged by the fact that by March 1918, more people lived beneath the surface in the Ypres area than reside above ground in the town today. [4]
Construction
Vampire was built to house a brigade headquarters of up to 50 men and one senior commanding officer. [5] Located close to Polygon Wood, it was named after the supply soldiers whose mission was to come out at night to re-supply troops in the front line. [6] Located 14 metres (46 ft) below Flanders and dug over a period of four months by 171st Tunnelling Company, the Royal Engineers used I beams and reclaimed railway line in a D-type sett structure. This was then further reinforced, using stepped wooden horizontal beams. [7]
Operational use
Vampire became operational from early April 1918, first housing the 100th Brigade of the British 33rd Division, then the 16th King's Royal Rifle Corps and then the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Regiment. [8] But after only a few weeks, the dugout was lost when the Germans undertook the Battle of the Lys in April 1918. It was recaptured in September 1918, when its last occupants became the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment.
When Vampire was excavated in 2008 (see below), the archaeologists found many signs inside the dugout of occupation by the British, but few from the Germans. There was a total absence of metal bed structures, suggesting that the British had had little time to fit out the dugout before it was overrun. [7] The researchers first estimated that the dugout would measure 200 metres (660 ft) by 150 metres (490 ft), but tunnels were eventually found to cover an area of 800 metres (2,600 ft) by 600 metres (2,000 ft). Designed by the Royal Engineers to house 50 men, the researchers now estimate that Vampire may have been used by at least 300 soldiers. [9] Whether Vampire was extended by the British or the Germans will take further investigation, although signs of construction in progress have been found throughout the workings.
Occupying units
- 100 Brigade Headquarters, 33rd Division
- 16th Battalion (Church Lads Brigade) King's Royal Rifle Corps
- 1st/9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry
- 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
These three battalions were the three constituent battalions of 100 Brigade
Vampire after the war: 1920 onwards
After the cessation of hostilities in November 1918, all deep dugouts including Vampire were abandoned. When the troops left within weeks of the war ending, the subterranean structures were slowly submerged. [4] After the removal of known munitions at the surface by military clean-up teams, the Belgian locals returned from 1920, recovering the upper sections of the wooden entrance steps for heat and building, and then filled the main shafts with rubble to enable the land to be returned to farming. [3] Locals also resumed extracting the local blue clay for commercial purposes, mainly in brickworks. The gradual expansion of the commercial extraction activities by the Terca Zonnebeke N.V. brickworks factory has over time led to the rediscovery of several World War I underground structures. [3]
Zonnebeke's underground war legacy
Today the district of Zonnebeke and its five villages – located at the centre of the area devastated by the Battle of Passchendaele – have the largest concentration of recorded World War I underground constructions. Most deep dugouts are now flooded, which has helped to preserve them, and they are now the most authentic relics of the Great War in Flanders. [3]
In addition to the Vampire dugout, 171st Tunnelling Company also constructed a deep dugout in the centre of Zonnebeke, located directly beneath the ruins of the parish church. This dugout was only discovered during archaeological excavations of the Augustinian abbey. Today the outline of this dugout is marked in an archaeological garden within the church grounds, and a model of the church dugout can be seen at the "Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917" in Zonnebeke. [10]
About 180 dugout sites have been located in the Ypres Salient and in the 1990s some of them were entered, at least in part. [11] In 1983, the Australian-built Bremen Redoubt [12] [ full citation needed ] was discovered at the rear of the Terca Zonnebeke N.V. brickworks in Zonnebeke. Opened to the public until 1998, it is believed that its eventual collapse was due to drying support timbers. On 21 February 1998, a farmer’s wife disappeared into the ground while washing the windows. Beecham dugout was subsequently discovered less than 400 metres (1,300 ft) from Tyne Cot Cemetery. [3]
